Joe Bonamassa doesn’t fit the normal mold of a Sunday Music Spotlight. Typically this space is reserved for young, up-and-coming artists. Artists who are just finding themselves musically and could be poised for a big break. Joe Bonamassa is relatively young, but he’s a long-time veteran of the music industry. It’s been 20 years since the guitar virtuoso opened for B.B. King. He was 12. Rather than being poised for a major breakthrough, Bonamassa already has a devoted following of folks who live and breathe the blues. So why is he here? Because he may be the world’s greatest living guitar player, and I’d bet that if you aren’t an avid blues fan you’ve never heard of him. Let’s fix that.
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The term “Modern Vintage” is obviously an oxymoron. But it’s an effective one. When you apply it to music you get an updating of old musical styles. In the case of Miss Tess that old musical style is Prohibition-era jazz, and the Maryland native updates it with bits of country and pop to make something distinctly modern.
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Let’s face it guys: chicks who play guitar are cool. Ume’s Lauren Larson seems cool to begin with. But factor in that she’s a kick-ass punk and rock guitarist and an awesome vocalist and I’m in love. Unfortunately, as is so often the case with the women I fall in love with, she’s taken. Her husband Eric plays bass in the band. The trio is rounded out by drummer Jeff Barrera. Together the band has toured the country, opening for bands like Arcade Fire, The Octopus Project, and …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead, and appearing at their hometown music festival: Austin’s SXSW. Along they way they’ve honed a live show into a thing of grungy beauty and built a reputation as a band not afraid to let it all hang out on stage. They released an EP, Sunshower in 2008, and will be heading into the studio this winter to record a full-length album.
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Alt-country. Alternative country. It’s kind of an ironic label. The modern artists who embrace classic country’s unadorned arrangements, simple songs, and heart on the sleeve lyrics are the ones seen as “alternative”, while the glitzy divas and faux cowboys who dominate the charts are seen as the real country musicians. It seems backwards to me, since anyone that listens closely can tell that Micah P. Hinson’s alt-country has a lot more to do with Hank Williams than Toby Keith’s country ever will.
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I listen to a lot of music. And I write about it quite a bit. Since I genuinely like all of the music I write about, one challenge I have is finding new ways to get across how good I think something is, without falling on cliches or things I’ve said a lot. When I first listened to The Dynamites’ latest album, Burn it Down, I quickly realized I had a problem. How do I express what I felt about their music? How can I get across how good the songwriting is, how tight the arrangements and playing are, and how charismatic their frontman Charles Walker is, without sounding hyperbolic? I put a lot of thought into it, and all I can come up with is this: Not only do I think The Dynamites are amazing, but I can’t imagine any music lover who would disagree.
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If ever a band has been misnamed, it’s Monsters of Folk. It’s members aren’t monsters, but rather accomplished musicians who are highly regarded by their peers. M. Ward has a successful solo career and has released a successful album with Zooey Deschanel, along with producing a slew of great albums. Jim James’ band My Morning Jacket is one of the darlings of the indie scene. And Connor Oberst and Mike Mogis are part of the best band from Nebraska, Bright Eyes. None of their bands could truly be considered folk, and when they get together the music they play has elements of folk, but has enough elements of country, blues, and rock that folk purists wouldn’t claim it. None of this should be interpreted as a slight against the band. Rather it’s a cry to look past the label and listen to the music, because even those who don’t appreciate folk will find something to like with this band.
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With a touch of Arctic Monkeys, a cool name, and a out of control live show, there’s a lot to like about Cage the Elephant. The Kentucky natives make high-energy, high-intensity rock ‘n roll that’s difficult to describe but easy to enjoy. The five-piece band fuses rock, funk, blues, and punk into something that makes you dance while still managing to tell a story. Their self-titled debut album hit stores last year, and almost immediately the band became a hit in the UK. But they didn’t take off in the US until their first single came out:
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A good melody is a good melody. Good harmonies are good harmonies. Good arrangements are good arrangements. It doesn’t matter how you record them or what effects you put on top of them. Good music will find a way to shine through. When you listen to The Love Language’s self-titled debut you may notice the lo-fi approach to recording. You may notice that everything is a little fuzzy. But you’ll definitely notice that the songs are really, really good.
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Tom Wilson looks like a musician. One who has seen his share of people, places, and things. One who has made a living creating music across three decades and innumerable genres. More importantly, he sounds like a musician who has lived and done these things, the essence of a life in music imbuing his songs with weight and authenticity. Above all, the years of performing and writing songs have helped him hone his craft, giving him the ability to whittle his songs down to their simplest forms before building them back into the most complete versions of themselves. Years of collaborations and solo efforts have led him to his latest project: an excellent album recorded, with friends, under the name LeE HARVeY OsMOND.
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Call me a child of the 80s, but when I hear the name Diane, the first thing that pops into my mind is Shelly Long’s character on Cheers. She was prim, proper, and prissy, and I never really understood why the super-cool Sam Malone was interested in her. So it’s understandable that my natural bias is against people named Diane. But it only took about 30 second of the first song on Diane Birch’s album Bible Belt to erase those bad memories. With that song Birch became the new Diane of record, and set a new bar for Dianes everywhere.
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